The Golf Chronicles. The Gentleman from North Carolina Honoring RCC s longest tenured professional. Cleaning and Fixing. Byron Nelson RCC Pro

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1 Henry Clay Poe sports his PGA blazer in this undated photo. He served as president of the Philadelphia Section for four years, a national vice president for three and was president of the PGA in Cleaning and Fixing Henry Poe was a stickler for the rules. In 1956, as reported in the Reading Eagle of November 4, Poe said only one rule in golf was unfair: the prohibition against cleaning the ball once it was on the green and fixing ball marks on the green. Years ago, greens were harder and players were more included to pitch and run. Today the greens are much softer the players have demanded it and I feel that, in time, a rule to permit the cleaning of the ball and the fixing of ball marks will be okayed. Poe didn t have to wait long. In 1960, the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews introduced a major revision by allowing players to mark, lift, clean and replace a ball on the green. Further, players were allowed to repair ball marks on the green. From the 1960 rule book: Rule 35-1 c. REPAIR OF BALL MARKS The player may repair damage to the putting green caused by the impact of a ball, but he may not step on the damaged area. The ball may be lifted to permit repair and shall be replaced on the spot from which it was lifted. If a ball be moved during such repair, it shall be replaced, without penalty. Rule 35-1 c. CLEANING BALL A ball lying on the putting green may be lifted and cleaned, without penalty, and replaced on the spot from which it was lifted; in match play the ball must be replaced immediately if the opponent so requests. The Gentleman from North Carolina Honoring RCC s longest tenured professional By way of Pete Trenham comes an artifact from RCC s past. In a letter dated November 7, 1956, Henry Clay Poe expresses his thanks to Marty Lyons. Poe, of course, is RCC s longest-tenured golf professional, holding the position from 1940 to Lyons is most likely unknown to today s generation of Philadelphia-area golfers. A shame, really, because he played a significant role in the history of the Professional Golfers Association of America. More to come. You can read Poe s missive on page 4. The letter is historic on two fronts. First, it shows RCC s 1956 letterhead and logo. Second, it links relationships, both obvious and unseen, between Poe and RCC and Lyons and Llanerch Country Club. PGA Honors. Poe wrote the letter following a dinner at RCC on November 1 attended by 130 guests that honored his three years as president of the Philadelphia Section of the PGA. Poe was moving up in the organization and would become one of ten national vice presidents in January Leo Fraser, owner and head professional at Atlantic City Country Club, succeeded Poe as section president. Poe, a graduate of Duke University, where, in his own words he majored in golf, turned pro November He was born to the game. His father, William Henry Poe, operated a public course in Durham, N.C. for 20 years. After knocking around the game in the south for two years, Poe served as Craig Wood s assistant at Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, N.Y., beginning in April It was Wood who, during the National Open in 1939, recommended Poe to as his successor. Lord Byron was leaving Reading for Inverness Country Club in Ohio. The 1939 Open was played at Philadelphia Country Club s Spring Mill course. Nelson won, defeating Wood in a playoff. But the win did not come easily. Nelson, Wood and Denny Shute tied after 72 holes at 284, 8 over par. After an 18-hole playoff, Nelson and Wood were still tied at 68; Shute was eliminated with a 76. That required another 18 hole playoff, which Nelson won, 70 to 73. For the six days of play, Byron won $1,000 from the $6,000 purse. We re not quite ready to jettison Denny Shute. Marty Lyons, the recipient of Poe s letter, started in golf as a nine-year-old caddy at Bon Air Golf Club, which is now Llanerch Country Club. At age 16 he was the caddy master at Llanerch and two years later he was the assistant pro. Lyons left Llanerch in 1928 for the Garden State, becoming head professional at the Valley Brook Country Club and then at the Spring Hill Country Club. He returned to Llanerch in 1934 as assistant to here s the connection Denny Shute. The next year Shute left Llanerch and Lyons succeeded him, holding the position until his death in Denny Undaunted. Shute, by the by, was no slouch on the golf course. He won the British Open in 1933 and the PGA Championship in 1936 and 37. There wouldn t be another successful defense of the PGA Championship until Tiger Woods in Back to RCC. Poe started on April 1, 1940, and didn t leave until 1966, when he was hired as director of golf by VF Corporation and moved to Monroeville, Ala. His service at RCC was interrupted during WW2 when he worked in defense plants. Interestingly, his father, William, assisted him for a period of time at RCC. The caddymaster was Edgar Hoffman. The Reading Eagle covered the 1956 dinner, with an article published on Sunday, November 4 (see pages 5 and 6).

Marty Lyons was head professional at Llanerch Country Club for 31 years. He was instrumental in changing the PGA Championship from match to stroke play in 1958. Champion of Change.

2 Marty Lyons was head professional at Llanerch Country Club for 31 years. He was instrumental in changing the PGA Championship from match to stroke play in Champion of Change. Lyons it was who put the wheels of change in motion. He attended the 1957 championship in Dayton to prepare for hosting the tournament. Although the $42,100 purse exceeded the $30,000 offered at the U.S. Open, some of the big names skipped the PGA because they disliked match play. The tournament, played at Miami Valley Golf Club, lost money Lyons returned home determined to host a stroke-play event at Llanerch. At the PGA s national meeting that fall, and with Lyons the champion of change, the delegates approved stroke play. Because of the format change and Lyons sales efforts to his friends at CBS-TV in Philadelphia, the tournament was televised for the first time. It was a huge success and turned a healthy profit for the PGA and Llanerch C.C. Dow Finsterwald won the championship with a score of 276, fourunder par for 72 holes, two better than the runner-up, Billy Casper. And there s another RCC-Llanerch connection. Billy Casper Golf managed RCC in its first three years as a public golf course. Just to add spice to the story, in 1958 the PGA Championship marked the tournament debut for a young pro from Pennsylvania. Chap by the name of Arnold Palmer. Arnie tied for 40th place, barely four months after winning his first Masters championship Lyons was the Philadelphia Section s PGA Professional of the Year in In 1966 Lyons was a national vice president representing District II for a second time. Two years later, having just given his report on the national association at the Section s spring meeting he suffered a heart attack and died while seated at the head table. He was elected to the Section s Hall of Fame in Lyons Prized Pupil. Lyons had a passion to teach the game and was especially interested in young golfers. His prize pupil and graduate from the Llanerch junior golf program was Dorothy Germain, later to become Dorothy Porter, who won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1949 at Merion Golf Club. Dorothy Germain Porter was a champion golfer many times over. She won the Pennsylvania Women s Amateur in 1946, 52 and 55; the Philadelphia Women s Amateur in 1946, 56, 59, 62, 69, 70, 73, 83 and 92; the Women s Western Amateur in 1943, 44 and 67; the U.S. Women s Senior Amateur in 1977 (the first U.S. Women s Amateur champion to win the Senior Amateur championship), 80, 81 and 83; the New Jersey Women s Amateur in 1967; and the Women s Eastern Amateur in She played on the victorious U.S. Curtis Cup team in 1950 and was non-playing captain of the winning 1966 team. Alas, she did not compete when the Pennsylvania women s amateur championship was contested at RCC in The Findlay Connection. Llanerch Country Club has been operating under its present name since 1919 and its current location since The club was founded as the Delaware County Country Club, later to become the Delaware County Field club in 1904 and, in 1914, was re named Bon Air country Club. The club made a major improvement in 1916 when it changed the greens from sand to grass. In 1928, the club hired Alexander H. Findlay, a noted golf architect who designed and built RCC in , to redesign the course and expand it to 27 holes. In 1946, the club s new owner purchased 119 acres, enough land to keep 18 holes, and proceeded to reconstruct the golf course. The Nelson-RCC-Llanerch Connections. Over the years, Llanerch has hosted several professional tournaments. One event that may never be eclipsed for its historic significance and an RCC-Llanerch connection is s 11 consecutive tournament wins in Lord Byron s seventh win was in the Philadelphia Inquirer Invitation Tournament at Llanerch, June Nelson won with an 11-under-par score of 269, defeating Jug McSpaden by two. McSpaden closed with a 66. 2

The art of Diegeling. Were it not for a comment from his friend Leo Diegel, s 1945 winning streak may have ended at six. Diegel was a major champion himself, having won the PGA in 1928 and 29.

You can Diegel today, but you can t jam the butt of the putter into your naval as Leo did 90 years ago. The rules of golf no longer permit an anchored putter.

Nelson merely closed with five birdies in six holes for a 63, defeating the luckless McSpaden, who finished with a 66, by two strokes. Nelson would win 18 of the 30 tournaments he played in 1945.

3 The art of Diegeling. Were it not for a comment from his friend Leo Diegel, s 1945 winning streak may have ended at six. Diegel was a major champion himself, having won the PGA in 1928 and 29. Because he struggled with short putts, Diegel developed a stiffwristed, elbows-out, bent over putting style that was so distinctive it became know as Diegeling. You can Diegel today, but you can t jam the butt of the putter into your naval as Leo did 90 years ago. The rules of golf no longer permit an anchored putter. You can see him Diegel in this quaint movie posted to You Tube. The win didn t come easy. Nelson trailed McSpaden by three strokes with six holes to play. Nelson merely closed with five birdies in six holes for a 63, defeating the luckless McSpaden, who finished with a 66, by two strokes. Nelson would win 18 of the 30 tournaments he played in The Rest of the Story. Here s the story behind the story. Thomas Bonk, writing for The Los Angeles Times, reported the following on March 11, 1995: On the last day at Philadelphia, Nelson was four under par through 12 holes when a friend told him McSpaden was about to finish with a 66. (GC editor s note: According to Nelson s book How I played the Game, page 142, the friend was Leo Diegel, a 30-time winner on the PGA tour who won the PGA Championship in 1928 and 29, was a member of the first four United States Ryder Cup teams and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.) "I did a quick calculation and said, 'My goodness, that means I've got to shoot five under from here in,' " Nelson said. "That's what happened. If I hadn't found out the score, I would have lost. That was a good break, accidentally." In contrast, Nelson had won the previous week, the Montreal Open, by 10 strokes. He followed the victory in Philadelphia with a seven-stroke win in the Chicago Victory Open. Here s an interesting sidebar on the Nelson-McSpaden friendship. The two were great friends, so much so that, according to a note in Bill Reedy s Reading Eagle column of April 19, 1939, Jug and his wife, Betty, christened their son, born March 6, Jay Byron McSpaden. In his book, How I Played the Game, Nelson writes fondly of traveling the golf circuit with his wife, Louise, and the McSpadens. He and Jug played as a team in nine four-ball events, winning two: the 1944 Minneapolis Four-Ball and the 1945 Miami Four-Ball, the first of Nelson s 11 consecutive wins. McSpaden holds a tour record that may stand the test of time: In 1945, he finished second 13 times. In 45, McSpaden played Phil to Nelson s Tiger, finishing second to Lord Byron seven times. A Major Victory. Nelson's most difficult win was the PGA Championship, played at Moraine Golf Club, Dayton, Ohio. He played 204 holes, which included a 36-hole qualifying tournament. Although he was exempt because of his statues as a past champion, Nelson played because the low score won $125. Byron needed that money to buy additional acreage for his Texas ranch. He won, of course. The tournament was a grind; the 32 quantifiers played 36 holes each day. On day one, Nelson defeated the legendary Gene Sarazen, 3 and 2. Lord Byron subsequently beat Mike Turnesa, one-up, after trailing 2-down with four to play. Nelson finished birdie-birdie-eagle-par. Turnesa s brother, Jim, would win the 1951 Reading Open at Berkleigh Country Club and the 1952 PGA Championship, where he didn t have to face Nelson. Lord Byron retired from competitive golf after the 1946 season at the age of 34. Back to the 45 PGA. Nelson defeated Denny Shute, 3 and 2, in the quarter finals, and got by Claude Harmon, 5 and 4, in the semi-final round. In the final round played Sunday, July 15, Nelson beat Sam Byrd, 4 and 3, to win his second PGA Championship. This was the last of Nelson s five major championship wins. By Nelson s count, he was 37 under par for 204 holes played over seven days and won his five matches by a cumulative 17 up. And for this, he won $5,000 in war bonds. That s a wrap. Harold Jug McSpaden, left, and. 3

4 The Golf Chronicles 4

Reading Eagle Friday, November 2, 1956 Henry Poe (center), for 16 years professional at the Reading Country Club, is shown here with gifts he received last night at a

At the left is Harlan Will, pro at the Lebanon Country Club and first vice president of the Philadelphia Section of the PGA, while on the right is Leo Fraser, of

Reading Eagle Sunday, November 4, 1956 Mighty Happy Family Henry Poe (third from right) poses with members of his family and parents with gifts he received at a banquet

5 Reading Eagle Friday, November 2, 1956 Henry Poe (center), for 16 years professional at the Reading Country Club, is shown here with gifts he received last night at a banquet in his honor at the club. At the left is Harlan Will, pro at the Lebanon Country Club and first vice president of the Philadelphia Section of the PGA, while on the right is Leo Fraser, of Atlantic City, the new president of the section succeeding Poe. Poe is moving up and will be elected as a vice president of the national PGA. Reading Eagle Sunday, November 4, 1956 Mighty Happy Family Henry Poe (third from right) poses with members of his family and parents with gifts he received at a banquet in his honor Thursday night at the Reading Country Club where he is the golf professional. The banquet was given by the Philadelphia Section of the PGA, a group Poe served as president for three years. From the left are: Jimmy Poe, 11; Poe s wife, Lillian, and mother, Annie; Poe; his oldest son, Bill, and his father, William Henry Poe. 5

6 Reading Eagle Sunday, November 4,

The Golf Chronicles. Slammin Sammy s Record 63. Byron Nelson RCC Pro The story of golf at Reading Country Club and in Berks County

The Golf Chronicles. Slammin Sammy s Record 63. Byron Nelson RCC Pro The story of golf at Reading Country Club and in Berks County Sam Snead s course-record 63, shot in 1949, still stands. Kobrin Style Jerry Kobrin, Reading Eagle staff writer, wrote the article reporting on Sam Snead s record-breaking 63 in the first round of the